Nervous Kvitova begins defence in brutal style

LONDON (Reuters) - Petra Kvitova probably wishes she could be this nervous before every match if her 35-minute 6-1 6-0 rout of Dutchwoman Kiki Bertens at Wimbledon on Tuesday was anything to go by.

Petra Kvitova of Czech Republic hits a shot during her match against Kiki Bertens of the Netherlands at the Wimbledon Tennis Championships in London, June 30, 2015. REUTERS/Henry Browne

Stepping out on to a sun-kissed Centre Court to begin the defence of her title, the Czech confessed to feeling the butterflies churning in her stomach.

Then she started playing and in the blink of an eye she had torn shreds off her beleaguered opponent in a one-sided demolition job in which she conceded a solitary point on her serve in the final game of the match.

“Actually, I will be quite happy if every time I am nervous it is going to be like this. So I‘m happy I won it,” she told reporters having begun her campaign just as she left off in last year’s final with a brutal exhibition of power tennis.

“For sure, it wasn’t really easy, especially before the match when you never know how it’s going to be... I didn’t really know what I should expect.”

The second seed has form for leaving the Centre Court crowd feeling slightly short-changed after battering Eugenie Bouchard in 55 minutes to lift the Venus Rosewater Dish 12 months ago.

Her parents were among Tuesday’s spectators, perched in the Royal Box, but they at least can expect an apology from their daughter.

“Unfortunately, maybe for people was a little bit quicker,” she said. “My parents came. The first 35 minutes, I have to say sorry to them.”

Bertens was overwhelmed by Kvitova’s relentless barrage of winners and pin-point serving accuracy.

The stats do not lie and on paper this was as one-sided as it was on court.

Kvitova won 48 of the 61 points played, and 28 of 29 on her own serve.

The only blot on that particular front came when she served a double fault when leading 5-0 in the second set.

Kvitova broke twice in an 18-minute first set and three times in even more fleeting second in which her 108th-ranked opponent failed to win a single game.

Next up for Kvitova will be Japan’s Kurumi Nara, who beat Magda Linette when the Pole retired in the third set.

Nara represents an unknown quantity for Kvitova, with the pair having never played each other. The Japanese will probably hope that step into the unknown does not make Kvitova nervous.